Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 24, 1995 TAG: 9509250002
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV20 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MAX MEADOWS LENGTH: Medium
The green 1953 Plymouth he got from Jefferson Elementary School Principal Eva Vaughan wasn't that old, but it seemed that way to the 16-year-old Swecker. At that age, he said, "you think something like that's ancient."
Since then, he has bought and sold dozens of vintage vehicles dating from the 1930s on, keeping them long enough to fix them up. "They're not really expensive high-dollar cars," he said. "I just like fooling with them."
The fixing takes some time, however. "A lot of 'em, I had eight or 10 years and I still haven't got them finished," he said. "If I get an hour a day in piddling with them, it's a lot."
Swecker owns the OK Barber Shop in Pulaski's Dalton Building. He began working in his father's barber shop at age 8, shining shoes. He grew up in the business and bought it when his father retired. He moved the shop to its present location in 1975.
His interest in old cars started in his teens. He worked at a service station for his brother-in-law, who always kept a bunch of them around. Swecker became fascinated with the idea of having his own.
"I had the fever. I just didn't have the money," he said. "I've never had as many as I've got now, until the last couple of years."
He bought his second one, a 1940 Oldsmobile, around 1973 but ended up selling that one, too. "I've had a lot I'd like to have kept, but I had to sell them to buy something else," he said. "I had cars in every nook and cranny. Everybody I could bum a spot from, I had 'em stored."
So he built a 32-by-40-foot garage behind his house and, when that overflowed, added a 40-by-80. Besides the some 15 cars he owns, he provides storage for the surprising number of car collectors who live in the area.
"Within five miles of here, I could take you to probably five or six houses," he said. "You could just take the old cars that you've got in Wythe County and have one of the nicest car shows around, if you could get 'em all together."
Swecker found Jay Cochran, an Appalachian Power Co. employee who is also interested in older cars, for most of his mechanical work. "If it wasn't for him, I couldn't even have 'em, because I couldn't keep 'em up," Swecker said. "I'll change a part once in a while ... And that's another reason it takes me eight or 10 years to fix one up. I just do it as I can."
Without renting a video of "Back to the Future" or some other '50s era movie, it's hard to remember how much cars have changed.
Swecker's cars abound with chrome, prominent hood ornaments, complicated front grille patterns, back windows that go all the way down, and the simplest of internal combustion engines under the hoods.
"I try to start 'em up at least a couple of times a year and let 'em run," he said. "I've kept the battery companies in business."
With that many cars, it is a major investment just to buy tires. "They don't wear out, they dry rot," he said, because he seldom drives any of the cars. "The [1955 Chevrolet] convertible I just sold, I think I put about 150 miles on it in about 10 years. And I drove it more than I did the others."
Each car has its own story. A Dublin couple who bought a 1963 Ford Fairlane from him and fixed it up for car shows eventually sold it back to him, because they didn't want anyone but Swecker to have it.
He had heard about the 1940 Ford Deluxe owned by a Hillsville man for about 10 years before he finally tracked it down, and found that even race driver Junior Johnson had tried in vain to buy it. "Me and the guy talked about three years before I got it," Swecker said.
He gave his oldest car, a 1938 Ford, to his 15-year-old son, Stephen, who might also turn out to be a collector. "I wouldn't doubt it," Swecker said.
As for himself, his collecting may be slowing down.
"I'd have to get rid of some before I'd buy any more," Swecker said.
"There's a couple that I'd really like to have, but they're getting so high ... I'll probably never get them," he said. "You can't keep 'em all."
Memo: Also ran in Neighbors on Nov. 30.